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Clark's main aim as a breeder was to produce roses that were hardy in the hot dry climate of southern Australia. To this end he made original use of crosses to ''[[Rosa gigantea]],'' which produced in the second generation some of the toughest and most floriferous roses ever bred: 'Lorraine Lee'<ref>[http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.3890.1 'Lorraine Lee' on the Help Me Find website]</ref> of 1924 and 'Nancy Hayward'<ref>[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.18815 Help Me Find 'Nancy Hayward']</ref> of 1937 have never lost public favour.<ref name="Quest-Ritson Climbing roses">{{cite book|last=Quest-Ritson|first=Charles|title=Climbing roses of the world|year=2003|publisher=Timber Press|location=Portland, Or.|isbn=0-88192-563-2|pages=38–41, 240–2}}</ref> 'Black Boy'<ref name="Black Boy">[http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.18858.1 Help Me Find 'Black Boy']</ref> of 1919, 'Lady Huntingfield'<ref name="Lady Huntingfield">[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.19118 Help Me Find 'Lady Huntingfield']</ref> of 1937 (named after the State Governor's wife) and 'Squatter's Dream'<ref name="Squatter's Dream">[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.18031 Help Me Find 'Squatter's Dream']</ref> of 1923 (named after a racehorse) are roses which have been unknown or underrated outside Australia.<ref name="Quest-Ritson Encyclopedia">{{cite book|last=Quest-Ritson|first=Charles & Brigid|title=The Royal Horticultural Society encyclopedia of roses|year=2003|publisher=Dorling Kindersley|location=London|isbn=978-1-4053-3511-9}} especially p. 237.</ref><ref name=Botanica> See also Peter Harkness, "Notable Rose Breeders", entry for Clark, Alister (Australia), p. 677 in {{cite book|last=Beales et al|first=Peter|title=Botanica's Roses|year=1998|publisher=Random House|isbn=0-09-183592-5}}</ref>
Clark's main aim as a breeder was to produce roses that were hardy in the hot dry climate of southern Australia. To this end he made original use of crosses to ''[[Rosa gigantea]],'' which produced in the second generation some of the toughest and most floriferous roses ever bred: 'Lorraine Lee'<ref>[http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.3890.1 'Lorraine Lee' on the Help Me Find website]</ref> of 1924 and 'Nancy Hayward'<ref>[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.18815 Help Me Find 'Nancy Hayward']</ref> of 1937 have never lost public favour.<ref name="Quest-Ritson Climbing roses">{{cite book|last=Quest-Ritson|first=Charles|title=Climbing roses of the world|year=2003|publisher=Timber Press|location=Portland, Or.|isbn=0-88192-563-2|pages=38–41, 240–2}}</ref> 'Black Boy'<ref name="Black Boy">[http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.18858.1 Help Me Find 'Black Boy']</ref> of 1919, 'Lady Huntingfield'<ref name="Lady Huntingfield">[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.19118 Help Me Find 'Lady Huntingfield']</ref> of 1937 (named after the State Governor's wife) and 'Squatter's Dream'<ref name="Squatter's Dream">[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.18031 Help Me Find 'Squatter's Dream']</ref> of 1923 (named after a racehorse) are roses which have been unknown or underrated outside Australia.<ref name="Quest-Ritson Encyclopedia">{{cite book|last=Quest-Ritson|first=Charles & Brigid|title=The Royal Horticultural Society encyclopedia of roses|year=2003|publisher=Dorling Kindersley|location=London|isbn=978-1-4053-3511-9}} especially p. 237.</ref><ref name=Botanica> See also Peter Harkness, "Notable Rose Breeders", entry for Clark, Alister (Australia), p. 677 in {{cite book|last=Beales et al|first=Peter|title=Botanica's Roses|year=1998|publisher=Random House|isbn=0-09-183592-5}}</ref>


Soon after the First World War Clark's experiments with ''Rosa gigantea'' petered out. He turned to creating what are essentially [[Hybrid Tea|hybrid teas]] in a wide variety of forms: low shrubs ('Mab Grimwade'<ref>[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.33417 Help Me Find 'Mab Grimwade']</ref>), high bushes ('Editor Stewart'),<ref name="Editor Stewart">[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.17056 Help Me Find 'Editor Stewart']</ref> rampant climbers ('Mrs Richard Turnbull'),<ref name="Mrs Richard Turnbull">[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.29955 Help Me Find 'Mrs Richard Turnbull']</ref> pillar roses ('Princeps'),<ref name=Princeps>[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.26649 Help Me Find 'Princeps']</ref> roses for hedges ('Sunny South'),<ref name="Sunny South">[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.6048 Help Me Find 'Sunny South']</ref> ramblers ('Gladsome')<ref name=Gladsome>[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.33416 Help Me Find 'Gladsome']</ref> and dwarves ('Borderer'). He seems to have had no breeding plan beyond making as many crosses as possible at “Glenara” and seeing what came up. His grounds became “a vast nursery for the propagation of roses and daffodils.”<ref>H.E. Rundle on 'Clark, Alister (1864–1949),' ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' online at http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080004b.htm retrieved 28 April 2012</ref> Roses should be tested in the climate they were meant for, he said. And he insisted that a seedling (like a yearling) takes three years to show what it can do.<ref name="Hybridization at Glenara">{{cite journal|last=Clark|first=Alister|title=Hybridization at 'Glenara'|journal=Australian Rose Annual|date=1928}}</ref>
Soon after the First World War Clark's experiments with ''Rosa gigantea'' petered out. He turned to creating what are essentially [[Hybrid Tea|hybrid teas]] in a wide variety of forms: low shrubs ('Mab Grimwade'<ref>[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.33417 Help Me Find 'Mab Grimwade']</ref>), high bushes ('Editor Stewart'),<ref name="Editor Stewart">[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.17056 Help Me Find 'Editor Stewart']</ref> rampant climbers ('Mrs Richard Turnbull'),<ref name="Mrs Richard Turnbull">[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.29955 Help Me Find 'Mrs Richard Turnbull']</ref> pillar roses ('Princeps'),<ref name=Princeps>[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.26649 Help Me Find 'Princeps']</ref> roses for hedges ('Sunny South'),<ref name="Sunny South">[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.6048 Help Me Find 'Sunny South']</ref> ramblers ('Gladsome')<ref name=Gladsome>[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.33416 Help Me Find 'Gladsome']</ref> and dwarves ('Borderer').<ref name=Borderer>[http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.19265 Help Mer Find 'Borderer']</ref> He seems to have had no breeding plan beyond making as many crosses as possible at “Glenara” and seeing what came up. His grounds became “a vast nursery for the propagation of roses and daffodils.”<ref>H.E. Rundle on 'Clark, Alister (1864–1949),' ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' online at http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080004b.htm retrieved 28 April 2012</ref> Roses should be tested in the climate they were meant for, he said. And he insisted that a seedling (like a yearling) takes three years to show what it can do.<ref name="Hybridization at Glenara">{{cite journal|last=Clark|first=Alister|title=Hybridization at 'Glenara'|journal=Australian Rose Annual|date=1928}}</ref>


Perhaps it is surprising for a man who wore a bowler hat and wing collar to the races in 1920, but his roses have the bright pinks, creamy apricots and hard reds of between-the-wars taste. It was the great age of the single or near-single rose; few can compare with 'Nancy Hayward,' 'Cicely Lascelles' or 'Squatter's Dream.' It is difficult to tell how his taste adjusted to the 1940s since 30 of the 40 roses he produced then have been lost, casualties of war. In any case, his roses of all periods have an endearing irregularity which holds our interest.
Perhaps it is surprising for a man who wore a bowler hat and wing collar to the races in 1920, but his roses have the bright pinks, creamy apricots and hard reds of between-the-wars taste. It was the great age of the single or near-single rose; few can compare with 'Nancy Hayward,' 'Cicely Lascelles' or 'Squatter's Dream.' It is difficult to tell how his taste adjusted to the 1940s since 30 of the 40 roses he produced then have been lost, casualties of war. In any case, his roses of all periods have an endearing irregularity which holds our interest.

Revision as of 03:13, 25 April 2012

Alister Clark (born 1864 and died 1949) was an Australian rose breeder who made an enduring difference to the appearance of Australian cities.

'Nancy Hayward.' Big single flowers on a six-metre climber. Werribee Park.
'Sunlit' 1937. Intensely scented medium-size flowers on a low bush, flowering all year in a hot climate. Margaret Furness photo.
'Cicely O'Rorke' 1926, released 1937. Big, lightly scented flowers on a tall climber.
'Billy Boiler' 1927, lost for many years. A strongly scented 3-metre climber. Werribee Park photo.

Biography

Alister Clark was the son of an immigrant Scottish tenant farmer who did well in Australia, leaving his family with several outback cattle stations and “Glenara,” a big property in a valley north of Melbourne. His children knew Europe well and Alister was educated at Cambridge. He married a New Zealander with a fortune and never worked, giving himself over to the business of being a gentleman: huntsman, polo player, racehorse owner, golfer, photographer — and rose breeder.[1] Typically he began his rose breeding by ordering roses from Paul & Son in England; later they came from the Nabonnand nursery at Golfe-Juan on the Riviera. He released about 150 roses between 1912 and his death, usually through the garden and sporting clubs he gave the royalties to.[2]

Clark was also a keen breeder of daffodils. In 1897 Clark had joined a syndicate, including Thomas Hanbury (creator of the famous Riviera garden of La Mortola) and Ellen Willmott (of Warley Place), which bought the stock of daffodil bulbs bred by Rev. G. H. Engleheart.[3] He also bought half the stock of a bulb collection made by English Shakespearean actor, George Titheradge. According to Tommy Garnett, the best known of Clark’s daffodils is probably ‘Mabel Taylor’, still in commerce and used for breeding.[3]

Roses

Clark's main aim as a breeder was to produce roses that were hardy in the hot dry climate of southern Australia. To this end he made original use of crosses to Rosa gigantea, which produced in the second generation some of the toughest and most floriferous roses ever bred: 'Lorraine Lee'[4] of 1924 and 'Nancy Hayward'[5] of 1937 have never lost public favour.[6] 'Black Boy'[7] of 1919, 'Lady Huntingfield'[8] of 1937 (named after the State Governor's wife) and 'Squatter's Dream'[9] of 1923 (named after a racehorse) are roses which have been unknown or underrated outside Australia.[10][11]

Soon after the First World War Clark's experiments with Rosa gigantea petered out. He turned to creating what are essentially hybrid teas in a wide variety of forms: low shrubs ('Mab Grimwade'[12]), high bushes ('Editor Stewart'),[13] rampant climbers ('Mrs Richard Turnbull'),[14] pillar roses ('Princeps'),[15] roses for hedges ('Sunny South'),[16] ramblers ('Gladsome')[17] and dwarves ('Borderer').[18] He seems to have had no breeding plan beyond making as many crosses as possible at “Glenara” and seeing what came up. His grounds became “a vast nursery for the propagation of roses and daffodils.”[19] Roses should be tested in the climate they were meant for, he said. And he insisted that a seedling (like a yearling) takes three years to show what it can do.[20]

Perhaps it is surprising for a man who wore a bowler hat and wing collar to the races in 1920, but his roses have the bright pinks, creamy apricots and hard reds of between-the-wars taste. It was the great age of the single or near-single rose; few can compare with 'Nancy Hayward,' 'Cicely Lascelles' or 'Squatter's Dream.' It is difficult to tell how his taste adjusted to the 1940s since 30 of the 40 roses he produced then have been lost, casualties of war. In any case, his roses of all periods have an endearing irregularity which holds our interest.

Clark's roses, with some exceptions, went out of fashion after his death. Others were lost or never released. But many have been revived since the 1990s by such enthusiasts as Susan Irvine and the nurseryman John Nieuwesteeg.[21]

Rose names and dedications

Most of Clark's roses are named after and for women he knew, more often than not from landed families ('Cicely Lascelles,' 'Kitty Kininmonth'). Most women in his own family and all wives of Victorian Governors and Australian Governors-General had roses named for them. Lady Gowrie already had one, so hers had to be called 'Zara Hore-Ruthven.'[22] Very few men received roses, all of them rose people in one way or another. Far more are devoted to racehorses: 'Squatter's Dream,'[9] 'Tonner's Fancy,' 'Flying Colours' and so on. Trailing the field are descriptive titles: 'Sunny South,' 'Borderer' and 'Daydream.' 'Scorcher' and 'Billy Boiler' were slang for a hot day.

Where Alister Clark roses can be seen

Alister Clark made an enormous and enduring difference to the appearance of Australia. Thousands of plants of 'Lorraine Lee' in particular, bred ninety years ago, can be seen in every town and city.

  • Sixty-seven of his available roses are collected at the Alister Clark Memorial Rose Garden in Bulla, the township next to “Glenara.”[23] This collection should not be confused with that of the same name in the Botanic Gardens in St Kilda, a Melbourne suburb, which has about five Clark varieties, unlabelled.
  • The National Rose Collection created by David Ruston at Renmark in South Australia has nearly all known Clark climbers, at least.[24]
  • The Morwell Centenary Rose Garden in Gippsland lists 38, including the often-confused 'Black Boy' and 'Countess of Stradbroke.'[25] Almost as big and closer to Melbourne is the informal collection at The Perfumed Garden and Roseraie at Mount Martha.
  • In Canberra the centre of the Rex Hazlewood Rose Garden at Old Parliament House has 26 Alister Clark roses, including such relative rarities as 'Mrs Albert Nash.'[26]
  • The Victoria State Rose Garden at Werribee Park has a good collection, especially of his gigantea climbers.
  • The Geelong Botanic Gardens have 'Borderer,' 'Lady Huntingfield,' Mrs Maud Alston,' 'Mrs Fred Danks' and 'Squatter's Dream.'
  • The Adelaide Botanical Garden, South Australia has some, including 'Amy Johnson.'
  • The Kodja Place Roze Maze at Kojonup, Western Australia uses hedges of Australian roses, including 32 by Alister Clark.[27]

Public gardens in suitable climates beyond Australia contain a tiny number of his roses. The Monserrate Palace garden at Sintra outside Lisbon in Portugal has three. Sangerhausen in north Germany has a small selection of Clark roses including two which would otherwise be extinct. Many of his roses were popular in the US between the wars and, after a long lapse, interest has revived.[28] So far this is only partly shown in public collections. The Descanso Gardens, La Canada Flintridge, California have had 55 and are said to be restoring their collection. Roses Unlimited of Laurens, South Carolina has 18 Clark roses on its list. 'Borderer' is said to be the Clark rose most popular with American gardeners.[28] A few European collectors of hybrid gigantea crosses have Clark examples in private gardens.

'Mrs Fred Danks' 1951. Well scented 9-cm mauve–lilac–violet flowers on a two-metre bush; very recurrent. Geelong Botanic Gardens.
'Black Boy ' in early spring. Richly scented, climbing to four metres. Margaret Furness photo.
'Lady Huntingfield.' Scented 10-cm flowers, very recurrent on a low bush. Werribee Park photo.

See also

References

  1. ^ Garnett, T.R. (1990). Man of roses : Alister Clark of Glenara and his family. Kenthurst, N.S.W.: Kangaroo Press. ISBN 0-86417-332-6.
  2. ^ Cox, Peter (1999). Australian roses : roses and rose breeders of Australia. Hawthorn, Vic.: Bloomings Books. pp. 7–18. ISBN 1-876473-02-9.
  3. ^ a b Garnett, T. R., ‘Clark, Alister’, in Aitken, Richard & Michael Looker (editors). (2002). The Oxford companion to Australian gardens. South Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press. pp. 142–3. ISBN 0195536444. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  4. ^ 'Lorraine Lee' on the Help Me Find website
  5. ^ Help Me Find 'Nancy Hayward'
  6. ^ Quest-Ritson, Charles (2003). Climbing roses of the world. Portland, Or.: Timber Press. pp. 38–41, 240–2. ISBN 0-88192-563-2.
  7. ^ Help Me Find 'Black Boy'
  8. ^ Help Me Find 'Lady Huntingfield'
  9. ^ a b Help Me Find 'Squatter's Dream'
  10. ^ Quest-Ritson, Charles & Brigid (2003). The Royal Horticultural Society encyclopedia of roses. London: Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 978-1-4053-3511-9. especially p. 237.
  11. ^ See also Peter Harkness, "Notable Rose Breeders", entry for Clark, Alister (Australia), p. 677 in Beales, Peter; et al. (1998). Botanica's Roses. Random House. ISBN 0-09-183592-5. {{cite book}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |last= (help)
  12. ^ Help Me Find 'Mab Grimwade'
  13. ^ Help Me Find 'Editor Stewart'
  14. ^ Help Me Find 'Mrs Richard Turnbull'
  15. ^ Help Me Find 'Princeps'
  16. ^ Help Me Find 'Sunny South'
  17. ^ Help Me Find 'Gladsome'
  18. ^ Help Mer Find 'Borderer'
  19. ^ H.E. Rundle on 'Clark, Alister (1864–1949),' Australian Dictionary of Biography online at http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080004b.htm retrieved 28 April 2012
  20. ^ Clark, Alister (1928). "Hybridization at 'Glenara'". Australian Rose Annual.
  21. ^ Irvine, Susan (1994). A hillside of roses : with a description and illustrated list of Alister Clark roses. South Yarra, Vic.: Hyland House. pp. 118–23. ISBN 1-875657-37-1.
  22. ^ Govanstone, Tilley & Andrew (2010). The women behind the roses : an introduction to Alister Clark's rose-namesakes 1915-1952 (first ed.). Kenthurst, N.S.W.: Rosenberg. ISBN 978-1-877058-93-6.
  23. ^ The Alister Clark Memorial Rose Garden
  24. ^ National Rose Collection of Australia
  25. ^ Morwell Centenary Rose Garden
  26. ^ The Rex Hazlewood Rose Garden
  27. ^ Kodja Place Roze Maze
  28. ^ a b Waering, Gene (2007). "Alister Clark roses in America". Heritage Roses. 31 (6): 3–8. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
Alister Clark's rambler 'Gladsome' of 1937 at Werribee Park.
The 1937 rambler 'Gladsome' at Werribee Park.

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